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An Exhibit on Language

Words of the People

The Principles of the International Phon... (by International Phonetic Association)
Selections from Chaucer's Canterbury Tal... (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Lan... (by Hoernle, August Frederich Rudolf)
The Tower of Babel, A Poetical Drama (by Alfred Austin)
The Canterbury Tales (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Psychology and Pathology of Speech Devel... (by Conradi, Edward)
National Symposium on Learning Disabilit... (by Department of Education)
The Science Of Language Vol I (by F. Max Muller K. M.)

The Words of the People: An Exhibit on Language

From the oldest forms of writings with pictographs and Cuneiform in 3500 B.C. to the generation of the first alphabet; of all the strides that we have made in technology, Language has been the single most important "invention" since the dawn of man. In fact, language defies time. Language is the greatest man-made achievement. Tone, intonation, inflection, the tongue, the throat, the breath and the brain: all lifeforms have some form of communication. The proceeding Collections in "The Words of the People: An Exhibit on Language" includes the most significant books on the subject of language.

Language, Literature, Children's Literature, Hawaiiana, Poetry and more.

Language and Learning

The root of the word language comes from the Latin term lingua, meaning "tongue." This definition’s attention to the human tongue highlights this muscle as the primary tool used by the body to shape combinations of uttered sounds to form the words of a spoken language. However, we can examine how languages also have a life of their own beyond an individual body. The “Words of the People: An Exhibit on Language" illustrates how language can be studied through its human biological and cognitive properties, as well as through its temporal and relational nature.

Language depends upon social customs and the ability for other humans to learn and adapt to social stimuli. The Science of Language Volume I, details theories on how early humans created words through vocalizations with the speech organs such as the throat, nose, tongue, palate, teeth, and lips, producing thousands of sounds. However, a typical language group utilizes only a limited number of sounds, usually between 10 and 60, which are interpreted aurally (The Science of Language, Volume 1, K.M. Max Muller).

In The National Symposium on Learning Disabilities in English Language Learners, proffers that the capacity to learn a language is based on individual factors, such as neurobiology, and contextual factors, such as environmental and social support (U.S. Department of Education, The National Symposium on Learning Disabilities in English Language Learners, U.S. Department of Education). Edward Conradi, a Professor of Psychology, wrote a thesis titled Psychology and Pathology of Speech Development of the Child. In this work, Conradi details how the various sounds a child makes after birth becomes the foundation for learning his mother tongue (Conradi, Psychology and Pathology of Speech Development of the Child, Edward Conradi). Later, the author became the President of the Florida State College of Women, the first women’s college in the south approved by the Association of American Universities (“Edward Conradi,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Perhaps it was through his studies in child psychology that Conradi believed all people should be given the opportunity to develop their language, and contribute to their culture and society.

Language Across Time

Writing allowed particular languages to be remembered for longer periods of time. The oldest writing is traced to the Sumerians, whose records go back to at least 3500 B.C. They used a form of picture writing that told a story or gave a message. The use of pictures as a writing style became so highly developed that it could express abstract ideas. Many present-day Asian countries such as China continue to use this form of writing (“Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia and "The History of the Alphabet," World Heritage Encyclopedia).

However, alphabetic systems of writing differ from picture writing because they are not static. Alphabetic writing is comprised of symbols, such as letters of the alphabet, that represent a vocalized sound (“Language”). Alphabetic writing changes to reflect the evolution of spoken language (“Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia and "Letter Alphabet," World Heritage Encyclopedia). The Canterbury Tales was told by storyteller and poet Geoffrey Chaucer is an example, The original writing of this work used different spellings, reflecting pronunciations of words according to the vernacular of Chaucer’s time. However, when the work was written in later editions, the spellings of words changed to reflect pronunciations during those times (The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer). The International Phonetic Association (IPA) has transcribed words in this book, using symbols to demarcate specific speech sounds. The Principles of the International Phonetic Association, 1912 chronicles the history of the IPA, creating a tool often used in dictionaries to assist readers in the pronunciation of words as they are spoken in their contexts (The Principles of the International Phonetic Association, International Phonetic Association).

The Great Vowel Shift

Before Modern English, there were "Old English" and Middle English." In 1550 A.D., a documented event called "The Great Vowel Shift occurred.

Language Families

The Tower of Babel: A Poetical Drama by Alfred Austin is a dramatization of a biblical story that tells us that all languages were at once one. However, a heavenly intervention confused people’s languages and scattered them around the world (Tower of Babel, Alfred Austin). Despite the differences of today, it is possible to examine the relationships between languages. One way to classify these relations are through the concept of language families, or a group of languages that are related through descent from a common ancestor, or proto-language. Language families can be divided into smaller phylogenetic units, or branches of the language family. For example, the Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Romance and Indo-Iranian languages are phylogenetic units of the indo-European language family (“Tower of Babel,” World Heritage Encyclopedia).

Different languages can also transform one another when they come into contact. These are called "Sprachbund." The book, A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages, With Special Reference to the Eastern Hindi, Accompanied by a Language-Map and a Table of Alphabets details how the Indian Subcontinent is a Sprachbund, or "...a geographical region that has several languages that feature common linguistic structures due to language contact and not common origin..." (A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages, With Special Reference to the Eastern Hindi, Accompanied by a Language-Map and a Table of Alphabets, August Frederich Rudolf Hoernle). "Language Isolates" are languages that have no known relatives, such as the Basque language (“Basque Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). "Contact Languages" are created when languages that do not come from a single ancestor come into contact to create "mixed" or Creole languages (“Language,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Hawaiian Pidgin, for instance, is an example of a Creole. Of note: Hawaiian Pidgin is the only known language in history to be created by children. On pineapple, coffee and sugar cane plantations in Hawaii, there was such a diversity of workers that the children (in order to be able to socialize together) unconsciously created a Creole that is still spoken widely in the State of Hawaii. Hawaiian Creole is a mixture of "loanwords" and phrases from over a dozen languages, including Hawaiian, Modern English, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Portuguese.

Debates on the study of language revealed its multi-dimensionality. Language has been studied biologically and cognitively, as an action of the vocal chords to create sounds with the use of the tongue. Languages function as organisms that survive over time through becoming a written language, or a spoken language that endures as a descendant of a proto-language. Spoken language can also dynamically transform by taking on the properties of other languages it is in contact with. The “Words of People: An Exhibit" on Language” features language as a multi-dimensional subject that covers the biological, historical and cultural aspects of human communication.

Works Cited

Austin, Alfred. The Tower of Babel, A Poetical Drama. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1874.

"Basque Language." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Macmillan, 1910.

Conradi, Edward. Psychology and Pathology of Speech Development of the Child. Volume 11. Pedagogical Seminary, September, 1904.

Department of Education. The National Symposium on Learning, Disabilities in English Language Learners. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, U.S. Department of Education, 2003.

"Edward Conradi." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

"The History of the Alphabet." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Hoernle, August Frederich Rudolf. A Comparative Grammar of the Gaudian Languages, With Special Reference to the Eastern Hindi, Accompanied by a Language-Map and a Table of Alphabets. London: Trubner and Co., 1880.

International Phonetic Association. The Principles of the International Phonetic Association. Paris: Association Phonétique Internationale, 1912.

"Language." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

"Letter Alphabet." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Muller K.M. Max. The Science of Language. Volume 1. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1899.

"Tower of Babel." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Language Collections

Learn more about the evolving nature of languages in these collections:

Top 100 books on Language

The Iliad (by Homer)
A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic (by Cleas, Richard)
The Trial (by Kafka, Franz)
Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of th... (by Findlater, Andrew)
The Tale of Genji (by Shikibu, Murasaki)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
Poetics (by Aristotle)
Graded Selections for Memorizing : Adapt... (by John Bradley Peaslee)
Beowulf
The Secret Garden (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
The Complete Works of William Shakespear... (by Shakespeare, William)
Esperanto Teacher, The (by Fryer, Helen)
Tao Te Ching Volume Vol. 39 (by Legge, J.)
Course in General Linguistics (by Saussure, Ferdinand)
Les Miserables (by Hugo, Victor)

Top 100 books on Education

Oresteia, The (by Aeschylus)
Riders of the Purple Sage (by Grey, Zane)
The New England Primer, Score Chr Nep (by Cornhill, Boston)
Adventures of Pinocchio, The (by Collodi, Carlo)
Meno, Score Plato Meno (by Plato)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
Dracula (by Stoker, Bram)
Peter Parley's Universal History, On the... (by Peter Parley)
Beowulf (by Unknown)
Medea (by Euripides)
Metamorphosis, The (by Kafka, Franz)
Emma (by Austen, Jane)
Leviathan (Books I and II) (by Hobbes, Thomas)
The Oresteia of Aeschylus (by Æschylus)
The Divine Comedy : Inferno (by Alighieri, Dante)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Pets and Playmates
The Tiny Picture Book
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
Harry's Ladder to Learning
The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book (by Caldecott, Randolph)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor H.)
King of the Golden River, The (by Ruskin, John)
The Little Engine That Could (by Lenski, Lois L.)
Mother Earth's Children; The Frolics of ... (by Gordon, Elizabeth)
Story of Mankind, The (by van Loon, Hendrik)
The Orbis Pictus of John Amos Comenius (by Comenius, Johann Amos)
The Adventures of Pinocchio (by Collodi, C.)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (by Grimm, Jacob)
Little Mary; Or, The Picture-Book
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Moonstone, The (by Collins, Wilkie)
Vanity Fair (by Thackeray, William Makepeace)
Hound of the Baskervilles, The (dramatic... (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
Gulliver's Travels (by Swift, Jonathan)
Beyond Good and Evil (by Nietzsche, Friedrich)
The Divine Comedy : Inferno (by Alighieri, Dante)
Utopia (by More, Thomas, Sir, Saint, 1478-1535)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
The Scarlet Letter (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Cour... (by Twain, Mark)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (by Twain, Mark)
Jungle, The (by Sinclair, Upton)
Man in the Iron Mask, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Tao Te Ching Volume Vol. 39 (by Legge, J.)
Bhagavad Gita (by Arnold, Edwin, Sir)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

A Christmas Carol (by Dickens, Charles)
Journey to the Interior of the Earth, A (by Verne, Jules)
Nicholas Nickleby (by Dickens, Charles)
The Panchatantra (by Arthur W Ryder)
White Fang (by London, Jack)
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (by Baum, L. Frank)
The velveteen rabbit, or, how toys becom... (by Bianco, Margery Williams)
Heidi (by Spyri, Johanna)
Bambi (by Salten, Felix)
At the Back of the North Wind (by MacDonald, George)
Count of Monte Cristo, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Arabian Nights (by Burton, Richard)
The King of the Golden River (by Ruskin, John)
Three Musketeers, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)

Top books on Shakespeare

Comedy of Errors (by Shakespeare)
All's Well, That Ends Well (by Shakespeare, William)
Timon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
Tempest, The (by Shakespeare, William)
Antony and Cleopatra (by Shakespeare, William)
King John (by Shakespeare, William)
The tragedy of Julius Caesar (by Shakespeare, William)
Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare)
King Richard the Second (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (by Shakespeare, William)
King Lear (version 2) (by Shakespeare, William)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
Love's Labours Lost (by Shakespeare, William)
Macbeth (by Shakespeare, William)
Coriolanus (by Shakespeare, William)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
RRRALPH : Preformed by Wally Amos
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
The Crayon Box that Talked : Preformed b... (by Shane DeRolf)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
More Pies : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Robert Munsch)
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)
Calabash Cat : Preformed by Wally Amos (by James Rumford)
Otto : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Steven Kroll)
The Cat in the Hat : Preformed by Wally ... (by Dr. Seuss)
How Rocket Learned to Read : Preformed b... (by Tad Hills)

Top 100 books on Hawaiiana

Workmen's Compensation Act of the Territ... (by Hawaii)
Ke Keiki Paionia (The Pioneer Boy) (by Samuel C. Andrews)
Hawaiian Language References-'Olelo Maku... (by Kamehameha Schools)
Kulu Wai Liilii : He Mau Mele Hoole Waio... (by Mission Houses Museum Library)
Na Mele O Hawaii Nei: 101 Hawaiian Songs (by Samuel H. Elbert)
Occasional Papers of Bernice P. Bishop M... (by Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum)
Moe 'O Makali'I (Makali'I Sleeps) (by Danielle Ululani Beirne-Keawe)
Life in Early Hawaii the Ahupuaa (by Kamehameha Schools Press)
Na Hana a Ka La’I (by Hokulani Cleeland)
Kamehameha the Great (by Julie Stewart Williams)
No Ka Wai O Ka Puna Hou (by Eve Furchgott)
Ka Moolelo O Ka Moi Kalakaua I (The Hist... (by J. J. Williams)
Yankees in Paradise the New England Impa... (by Bradford Smith)
Kamehameha III : Kauikeaouli (by Jean Iwata Cachola)
An Account of the Polynesian Race : Its ... Volume Vol. 2 (by Fornander, Abraham)

Top books on Poetry

Leaves of Grass (by Whitman, Walt)
Rhymes of a Red Cross Man (by Robert W. Service)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience and... (by Blake, William)
One Hundred Poems of Kabir, Tr. By Rabin... (by Kabir)
The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shell... (by Percy Bysshe Shelley)
A Profeta Kertje (by Gibran, Khalil)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (by Hughes, Langston)
The Raven (by Poe, Edgar Allan)
In Memoriam (by Tennyson, Alfred Lord)
Poems by Currer, Ellis, And Acton Bell (... (by Bell, Acton)
Poems (by Owen, Wilfred)
The Poems Of Robert Frost (by Frost, Robert.)
Poetical Works : Volume 1 (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
When I Was King: Poems (by Henry Lawson)
Collected Poems of John Keats : Volume 5... (by Keats, John)

Yiddish Book Center

A Ferlyorhunder Esey Vegn der Yidisher L... (by Grobard, B)
Dos Fidele (by Kvitko, Leib)
Di Vel-Geshikhe Fun Yidishn Folk Fun Di ... Volume Vol. 4 (by Dubnow, Simon)
Neben-Gezetse der Villyam Fishman Lodzsh... (by Independent Order Brith Abraham of the United Stat...)
Mikra'Ot Gedolot Umash Bet Yehuda : Volu...
Fun Vey Un Gloybn Lider (by Shargel, I. Z.)
Gang Erets-Yira'El; Medines-Yira'El; Ame... (by Chain-Shimoni, L.)
Lider (by Shifris, M.)
Demokratisher Sotsyalizm Oder Royte Dikt... (by Kautsky, Karl)
Zikhroynes Fun a Maran in der Tekufe Fun... (by Shapiro, Shelomoh)
Fun Dor Tsu Dor Lierarishe Eseyen (by Green, Ber)
Borekh Fun Amserdam Drame in Fir Akn, Na... (by Sloves, Henri)
Yidn Nokhn Nitson Di Golus-Regirungn Un ... (by Wachsman, Z. H.)
Lebedik Un Freylekh Lider-Zamlung Far Ki... (by Kvitko, Leib)
Ṭaras Sheṿtshenḳo der Groyṣer Demoḳra... (by Khvylia, A. A. (Andri Ananiovych))